My walking route from Ibis Budget Hotel near Antwerp Central Station to Hostel Pulcinella was via City Park and passed the renowned
Cafe Kulminator,
Vleminckveld 32, visited the previous evening.
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| Kleine Markt - near Cafe Kulminator |
Kleine Markt is overlooked by a statue of Mary and baby Jesus, including a streetlamp, on the junction with Bredestraat, just 50 metres further north-west.
I was able to check in to my spacious first floor room with a view of the courtyard garden by about 6pm. A partial refund of the room rate, due to single occupancy, was a pleasant surprise.
BierPassie Weekend XIX - day 1
The advantage of staying at Hostel Pulcinella is that it is only 600 metres from the entrance to the BierPassie Weekend festival in Groenplaats.
The festival opens at 5pm on the Friday. On arrival at Groenplaats, I purchased a Beer Sommelier tasting glass (5 euros) and jetons (plastic beer tokens - 2 euros / 20cl) and picked up a free programme at the entrance. Our group was sitting inside the tent housing Ben's bar.
Andrew pointed me to Keith Moore who was chatting with Johan Van Dyck and Karen Follens the founders of
Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie in front of the Seefbier wagon / bar.
Before joining them I used my first jeton for a glass of Super Cadix dry hopped lager from the wagon.
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| Karen Follens and Johan Van Dyck with Ullage magazine |
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| Page 6 (detail) - Ullage magazine (Autumn 2017) |
I was glad to be able to give Johan an Autumn 2017 issue of
Ullage magazine which included a photo of an Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie poster and details of the brewery's new
taproom / cafe which our group would visit at lunchtime on Saturday.
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| Keith Moore with Keef Bier |
Slightly earlier, Keith had presented them with bottles of Keefbier, with a label based on the Seefbier label but incorporating Keith's bespectacled face insted of the face of 'Seef man'.
Having brought a copy of the latest edition (8th) of CAMRA's
Good Beer Guide Belgium with me, I was able to show Johan the entry for Antwerpse Brouw Compagnie, on page 77 of the 'Belgian Breweries A to Z section'. Johan was a bit doubtful about their brewery's 'Tiny' size category although happy that it had not been categorised as 'Miniscule'!
Thanks to Johan for a complimentary glass of Nonkel Pater, the dark and rich 9% abv 'Qua-dubbel'.
Back at
Ben Vinken's bar, I used a jeton for a glass of
Brouwerij Van den Bossche Buffalo bitter, poured from a 75cl bottle with a cork closure.
Aura Brasserie
Most of our group wanted to visit
De Peerdestal, a restaurant where the menu included horse steak, but Simon and I decided to revisit
Aura Brasserie, Hoogstraat 34, for an omelette.
I found a table inside near the bar with shelves for a variety of Belgian beer glasses. A few draught beers are available here including Antwerp's
De Koninck APA (Antwaarpse Pale Ale).
Arriving before Simon, I ordered a
St Feuillien Grisette Blonde Bio which was served with a small dish of coated nuts.
When Simon arrived, I ordered a bottle of Het Nest SchuppenBoer (Jack of Spades) - a 'floral and peachy tripel'.
Simon chose a bottle of
Brasserie du Bocq Deugniet. The image on the bottle of a cheeky rascal (the meaning of Deugniet) was a surprise. Subsequent research shows that there is an Antwerp connection with the statue, from which the image is taken, being situated near the junction of two pedestrian streets -Korte Gasthuisstraat and Everdijstraat in the 'De Wilde Zee' neighbourhood, immediately south-east of Groenplaats and the Cathedral of our Lady. Barely visible from Google Maps Streetview, the bronze statue mounted on a plinth is the work of Luc Verlee for the city of Antwerp in 1976 according to a comprehensive blog about the city's statues by
Alfons Van Camp. Another blog by
Lia in Brussels links moustaches and music via John Lundström to this statue which has been 'kidnapped' and recovered on several occasions.
The excellent omelettes we ordered were served with a salad so my decision to order an additional Greek salad to share was somewhat unnecessary.
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| a view from Vlaaikensgang 'secret' passage |
On our way back, after the meal, we noticed an alleyway leading east from Hoogstraat and detoured down it, turning left at a corner to emerge into Oude Koornmarkt. This charming 'secret' passage is Vlaaikensgang.
BierPassie Weekend XIX - late evening
Back at nearby Groenplaats we found a table on the west side of the square (on the left side of the plan from the programme).
I visited the Van Eecke (Leroy) Brewery stand (8) at the north end of the square, nearest the cathedral, for a glass of draught Hommelbier dry hopping 2018 'showcasing that earthy, floral Poperinge hop character'.
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| John, Andrew & Simon - Groenplaats |
This Friday was not as warm in Antwerp as it was in the UK and it was nice to have a fleece to wear at our outside table in the square.
Another beer enjoyed at the festival this evening was
Waterloo Récolte Saison from the Martin's stand (5).
Billie's Bier Kafetaria
We left Groenplaats before closing time and some took the tram to
Dageraadplaats where we had all been the previous night.
However, Simon and I walked the 100 metres to
Billie's Beer Kafetaria,
Kammenstraat 12.
The choice of 11 draught beers is displayed on a blackboard above the bar. These are sourced from around the world including AleSmith Speedway Stout (San Diego, USA) and Magic Rock Human Canonball DIPA (Huddersfield, UK).
At Billie's, most of the draught beers are more expensive than many of the bottled beers. Simon ordered a draught Rodenbach Alexander (6 euros) while a bottle of Schelde Brouwerij Hop Ruiter dry hopped IPA / Tripel (4 euros) suited me fine and was a favourite beer of the day.
With the help of SoundHound App it was possible to identify some of the decent music being played including Stoned Jesus (from Kiev) 'I'm the Mountain', Kaleo (from Iceland) 'Way Down We Go' and Austra (from Toronto) 'Lose It'.
My last beer at Billie's from a favourite Belgian brewery was also to my taste, a bottle of 7% abv Antigoon from The Musketeers Brewery Belgian Legends series, costing 3.5 euros.
A page from the beer menu illustrates that most Belgian beers are strong as Taras Boulba (4.5% abv) is included here in the Low Alcohol section!
It was nice to see Billie, who walked into 'his' bar some time after midnight!
Now it was time for me to walk the short 400 metres back to Hostel Pulcinella while Simon had to walk over 2km back to Hotel Ibis Budget, near Antwerp Centraal station.
* - any quoted beer descriptions are taken from CAMRA's
Good Beer Guide Belgium (8th edition) - Joe Stange & Tim Webb.
